George Clooney: Setting the celeb courtroom standard

George Clooney, charming his way through Italy's judicial system. (AP)

After all the courtroom hubbub about Lindsay Lohan, the current legal ugliness involving Mel Gibson and the carping about the Roman Polanski case, it's weirdly comforting to see a movie star who knows how to handle a judicial proceeding like, well, a movie star.

That movie star? Clooney. George Clooney.

While testifying in Milan against three individuals facing fraud charges for using Clooney's name and likeness to launch a fashion line, he appears to have reported on time.

While on the stand, according to the Associated Press, he kept things entertaining. ("I also don't wear long jean shorts," he noted while explaining that he was not actually in a photograph that clamed to feature his likeness.)

And, as you'll see in the video below, he moved calmly and cooly through a swarm of media and fans. "Don't crush my lawyers," he even cracked at one point.

Seeing a little bit of elegance in a celebrity courtroom case tastes like a palate-cleansing sorbet after days of covering stuff like this. And this. And more of this. And ... no, wait ... more of this.

Thank you, Mr. Clooney, for keeping it classy.